Frankie Sullivan knocked down five 3-pointers against Illinois but also turned it over five times. (Associated Press)

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- An up-and-down non-conference slate for Auburn almost got a huge win on Saturday when the Tigers came within a few shots of upsetting then-No. 12 Illinois in an 81-79 loss in front of a hostile crowd.

But games against good teams tend to highlight a team's deficiencies, and Auburn (5-6) has some lessons to learn before Wednesday night's 6 p.m. tilt against Florida State at Auburn Arena.

After the Tigers take on the Seminoles, SEC play is only a week away, and Auburn has to find some answers if they want to take advantage of a weak SEC and turn the season around in conference play.

1. Auburn's lack of a true point guard continues to hamper the Tigers' potential on offense. Frankie Sullivan, for all of his effort, is a shooting guard playing the point right now, and his playmaking shortcomings can be all-too-obvious against top competition. Sullivan scored 21 points against the Fighting Illini, but he also turned it over five times.

"If he's going to play the point for us, he can't have that many turnovers," Auburn head coach Tony Barbee said. "They got their hands on a lot of his balls when he was trying to make passes, even if we came up with the ball."

Sullivan is averaging 3.67 assists per game this season, but he's also averaging 3.25 turnovers, a number that has to come down.

2.Allen Payne turned in the first double-double of his career against Illinois with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Although Payne isn't a premier scorer, he's been the Tigers' best glue guy this season, averaging 7.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals this season while guarding bigger players at the power forward position.

"I was proud of Allen and the way he fought to come up with the double-double," Barbee said. "We've got to get more guys involved."

Auburn out-rebounded Illinois by eight boards on Saturday.

3. Losing Jordan Price to a stress fracture in his foot hampers Auburn's depth on the perimeter, but Barbee was pleased with the minutes the Tigers got out of little-used combo guard Brian Greene Jr. against Illinois. Greene has struggled mightily on the offensive end -- he's shooting just 27.3 percent from the field -- and made the first 3-pointer of his career against Illinois.